Arizona Abortion Ban Update: Kari Lake Notes Lack of Enforcement, What Should Be Now

DEBARYLIFE – In a backtracking move from earlier this month, Republican candidate for Arizona Senate Kari Lake stated in an interview with an Idaho media site that she is disappointed that her state’s 1864 legislation outlawing almost all abortions is not being implemented.

According to the Arizona Supreme Court, this is Arizona law. However, the state’s leadership has stated that they won’t enforce it, Lake lamented in a Saturday video interview with the Idaho Dispatch.

As much as many of us would like to, we don’t have that law, she continued.

When questioned about her remarks, which were made in response to criticism from the anti-abortion organization Idaho Chooses Life, Lake’s campaign did not immediately reply.

A Civil War-era statute that outlaws almost all abortions in Arizona save those performed to save the mother’s life was maintained by the state Supreme Court earlier this month. A doctor who performs an abortion may potentially face jail time under the statute.

Legislator Katie Hobbs (D) and Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) of Arizona declared they would not enforce it and would not bring charges against providers.

In a recent letter to hospitals and physicians, Mayes stated that her office is investigating “all legal options available” to stop the bill from going into effect before its earliest possible date of June 8.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I) seat is being vacated, and candidate Lake has oscillated in her support of and opposition to the 1864 proposal. She referred to it as a “great law” in 2022, when she was seeking the governorship of Arizona.

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However, Lake’s perspective changed following the decision.

“The complete prohibition on abortion that the Arizona Supreme Court has decided is not in keeping with the values of this state’s citizens,” she declared in a video that was uploaded on the social media site X on April 11.

She affirmed President Trump’s assertion that “we must have exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of a mother.”

Republican lawmakers in Arizona have been personally lobbied by Lake to overturn the ban, which would return the state to its 2022 statute outlawing abortions after 15 weeks.

Similar to the 1864 statute, there are no rape or incest exceptions to the 15-week prohibition.